WANT TO LEARN A NEW SKILL YOU CAN CHARGE UP TO £40 AN HOUR FOR?

If techie-type services aren't your thing, you'll be pleased to know there's actually a traditional PA service that's hugely in demand that will earn you a very good income throughout your career and wherever you go.

Minute taking is a highly sought-after premium skill needed by numerous organisations - but hardly anyone either knows how to do it or wants to offer it as a service.

Which means that the people who do are cleaning up!

Many companies need an impartial, accurate PA to record their meetings and the shortage of minute takers means they're struggling to find someone to give their money to.

So let's make sure that person is you!

THE MINUTE TAKING COURSE INCLUDES

This online training course covers everything you need to know about recording minutes for meetings:

TRAINING COURSE TAUGHT BY A PRO

As a highly experienced PA and expert minute taker, Rachel Brown was the perfect choice to run this course. Here she shares her extensive knowledge along with insider tips and tricks in this 3-step online training programme.

FIRST THEORY PRESENTATION

This covers the who, what, where, when and why: what to write, how to write it, lettering and numbering formats, how to manage the meeting, your relationship with the chair and other meeting etiquette.

SECOND THEORY PRESENTATION

The theory presentation also covers seating plans, protocols, how to structure the agenda, editing and revising the documentation, and the importance of ensuring the minutes make sense to someone who wasn't there.

TRAINING VIDEO & DISCUSSION

A training video showing you exactly how to take the minutes of a real-life meeting. You follow the video in stages with Rachel while she shows you what you should be writing and why. Then you compare your notes with hers.

NON-COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES

This is an additional presentation on the protocol of how to take minutes from non-commercial enterprises including voluntary organisations, charities, AGMs and community groups.

PLUS: PROSPECT EMAIL TEMPLATE

Because we want to make sure you get work at the end of the course, I even provide you with an easy-to-customise prospect email to send to local organisations offering your new-found skill as a minute taker.

TESTIMONIALS

"This course is revolutionary! The information you gain with the downloadable PDFs and FAQs are priceless. Easy to follow and explanatory, this is a great course for those who have never taken minutes and excellent as a refresher for those who have. This is one minute taking course I highly recommend because it covers everything you need to know." Valerie Hay

"This course taught me more in one afternoon than I'd learned in over 15 years in administration. The course explained best practice right from the theory behind a successful meeting, all the way through to practice scenarios broken down into bite-sized chunks. Hearing Rachel's own thoughts on what could have and should have been noted down was hugely valuable and steered me back on track when I found myself scrambling to type superfluous waffle. I finally feel confident about offering minute taking as a service and wholeheartedly recommend the training to anyone wanting to add a profitable string to their VA bow." Victoria Tretis

"A clear, concise, professionally put together and delivered course and really easy to follow. Some really good advice and suggestions from Rachel and I can’t wait to put my training to good use! Being able to learn something online and refer back as and when needing a refresher is the perfect learning environment for me personally. Time is money and a whole day away from my own business is something I can’t yet afford the luxury of. I'll certainly be recommending this course to everyone!" Jo Robertson

"This course is invaluable. I have years of experience taking minutes but it's completely different when you don’t know the company. It gave me a whole new perspective in how skilled minutes taking is and it was really good to see how a professional minute taker does it." Emma Conway-Hyde

"As a new VA I want to offer as many skills as I can to potential clients. Although I've written minutes whilst employed, after completing the course I think I missed a trick or two! I learnt so much more including layout, and what needs including and what doesn't. I like that the course is broken down and really clear examples are given. Rachel walks you through at a comfortable pace and holds your hand each step of the way. It's very user-friendly and all I need to do now is keep on practicing! I would most certainly recommend this course to other VAs as an additional skill." Kimberley Dredge

"The course has opened my eyes to a new service that I can offer as a VA that is very much in demand. Rachel clearly knows her stuff and the hints and tips she shares in the course will be very useful to me going forward." Sam Rodda

"This is a great course offering superb value for money and delivered by an expert in the field. I have previous minute taking experience and found the course really useful to refresh my skills and increase my confidence in offering minute taking as a core service in my business. When I think back to the first time I did take minutes at board level, I think if I had completed this course prior to that I would have been able to take minutes straight away and then revert back to the material to ensure that the final minutes were fit for purpose." Laura Coyle

"This course serves as a comprehensive guide to all aspects of minute taking. Many years ago I acted as Secretary for a volunteer group where my role including minute taking so I took this course as a refresher and after just a few hours I now have the confidence to offer this as a service." Jackie Monk

"I found the course to be really straightforward and easy to follow and it gave me a valuable insight into what is achievable. I thought I could take Minutes fairly OK until I did this course and now I realise there is so much more to it so it has made me aware that there is much more to taking minutes properly than I had appreciated. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is considering learning this new skill." Jan Baber

"I found the course easy to understand and navigate through. I would definitely recommend it to others as it is really good value for money and a new great skill to have." Ami Norris

"This course is a must if, like me, you have ever taken minutes at a meeting but never actually had specific training for the task. The course explains that you don't need to write every word that was said in the meeting as I used to try and do! The content is very clear, easy to follow and you can do it at your own speed. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who fears clients or employers mentioning the words 'can you take minutes?' This was just what I needed to feel confident about taking minutes properly."Jo Mower

FAQs

How much money can I make and how do I quote for a job?Rachel charges £30 an hour for taking minutes and the going rate in London is around £40 an hour. As a rule of thumb, if a meeting is 2 hours long then you charge for 4 hours: 2 for the meeting plus another 2 for the time it will take to create the document from your notes with further editing and revisions.

One-day minute taking courses range from £400 - £520 + VAT, but with this course you can recoup your money in just a couple of meetings AND have the content to refer to forever.

What kinds of people need minutes?Lots of organisations including small limited companies as well as public and private sector organisations use impartial and independent minute takers. Property management and right-to-manage (RTM) companies legally have to record the minutes of their meetings as well.

All kinds of voluntary organisations and community groups also require minutes to be taken of their AGMs. These include nursery playgroups, Brownies/Scouts/Girl Guides groups, residents associations, church community groups and flower-arrangement groups.

The FAQs doc in the course covers who needs minutes and even where you can find them. Sending out an email offering your services to prospects is really simple and I even provide an email template you can use to attract clients!

Is there really that much demand for this service? The demand is actually so high that Rachel gets calls from all over the UK and can pretty much charge what she likes because there is such a shortage of skilled minute takers! In fact Rachel could work day and night solely offering this service.

I've taken meeting notes at work so do I need this course?Formal minute taking on a freelance basis is definitely different to working as an employee typing minutes. You need to take the chairperson's preferences into consideration, be able to capture the salient and action points of an unfamiliar topic discussed by unknown people, and you may also have to learn a new lexicon.

Can I do this virtually?You can't take minutes virtually, but this is a highly sought-after skill you can learn and then make money from throughout your entire working life. You can just take minutes once a week in your local area if you like or you can decide to make it your core service.

How long does the training take?You can complete the training course in half a day and then you need to practice. How long you want to practice for is up to you though! You have lifetime access to the course so you can do it at your own pace and refer back to it whenever you like.

Will the information go out of date?Minute taking never dates so whatever you learn on this course will serve you throughout your whole career.

How is the training delivered?Once you click the button to buy you'll be taken straight to my dedicated courses website where you will pay. You will have imediate access to the lessons so can start straight away. You download the supporting documents, work through the 3 videos and then practice your little socks off!

Can I see what modules are included in the course? You can indeed. Just click on one of the big pink 'buy now' buttons and you'll be taken to the website where the course is located and there you can see payment plan options and all the different modules and lessons.

I have a few more questions before I buyNo problemo. Email support@thevahandbook.com and ask away!

GREAT FOR NON-TECHIES!

* Not everyone can (or wants to) offer marketing, social media or other techie services.* Many companies need to record their minutes and some are actually legally obliged to.* Traditional PA services are still highly in demand and Rachel makes a fantastic living by offering them.

ABOUT THE TRAINER

A fellow of the Institute of Administrative Management (FInstAM), Rachel Brown is a freelance PA with a 30 year career spanning both public and private sectors who runs a small team providing traditional business admin and support services through her company Secretary Outsource.

I pestered Rachel to create this course for over a year after I discovered she had the entire local area sewn-up. All the VAs I know pass minute work on to her as nobody else offers this as a freelance service.

I felt this course would be a fantastic resource so potential or existing VAs could learn a highly valued, sought-after skill that would bring in a consistent income throughout their entire working life.